Not Just an Experiment
by Amanda Marie Johnson
Summary: Willow Rosenberg survived a house fire. She escaped an abusive boyfriend and she overcame a tragic family death. After all that she realizes that she needs a change. Will she get what she wants when she enters a study group full of girls? rr
1. Prologue

HEY GUYS! YET ANOTHER NEW STORY. I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING. SHE HASN'T UPDATED ANY OF HER OTHERS YET, BUT BE PATIENT, THEY'RE COMING I PROMISE. I JUST KEEP GETTING IDEAS, AND I CAN'T IGNORE THEM. SO HERE IT IS.  
  
SUMMERY  
  
Willow Rosenberg has been through a lot. She survived a house fire. She escaped an abusive boyfriend and she overcame a tragic family death. After all that she realizes that she needs a change. Will she get what she wants when she enters a study group full of girls? W/T, A/C, B/S, X/An and D/Con. Please r/r!  
  
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Memories flooded the eighteen year old red-head's head as she walked with her best friend to their first class. God this was different. She was so used to being a high school girl, being in a small school, with people she knew. This was so big. She knew no one, except for the blonde walking next to her. As the two girls entered the large class room her heart filled with nervousness. They took seats, towards the front and she put down her books and sighed.  
  
"Will what's wrong?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Nothing, it's great. I'm just kind of overwhelmed that's all" Willow said.  
  
"It is very strange, us being college girls, but it's also cool" Buffy said with a smile.  
  
"Yeah, cool, but you have the better deal. I mean you have the hot boyfriend, who wouldn't hurt you if his life depended on it, the adorable kid sister, and the mother who cares more about you and your sister than anything in life. Me, what do I get, a mother who doesn't even notice I cut my hair, a father who is practically non existent, and an ex boyfriend who tried to kill me" Willow complained. Buffy put her arm around her friend.  
  
"Will, it's okay. You're past that now. It's all over, and we'll find you someone, a nice, normal, non woman beating someone" Buffy smiled and Willow smirked back.  
  
"That's just the thing. I'm not sure I want someone else. I'm not sure I'll be able to trust anyone again. Not after. . ." Willow said remembering her brush with death.  
  
"Well then that's okay too. You have to do what makes you happy" Buffy said.  
  
"I just wish I knew what that was" Willow said and the teacher came into the class.  
  
"Hello, I'm professor Skeidlan, welcome to psyche 101" she said.  
  
After the class was over Willow and Buffy walked to the library. It was huge. A lot bigger than the one at their high school. Willow looked about in awe. She was one of the few who appreciated a good library. Another being Buffy's boyfriend's father Rupert Giles.  
  
"Oh my god, look at this" Willow said in a whisper.  
  
"Yeah, it's. . .precise" Buffy said as she looked around also. She didn't take the library into perspective like her friend. To her it was just a quiet place with lots of books. Not that she didn't like to read. She did, it was just she liked to use her time doing other things than admiring a library. However she was here for Willow.  
  
"It's amazing, a lot better than the library at Sunnydale High" Willow said as she and Buffy made their way to a table.  
  
"So, what is it that you wanted to get Will?" Buffy asked, setting down her books and going over to where Willow was looking at some books.  
  
"I don't know. Something interesting" Willow said and picked up an old looking book. "Ooh, listen to this. 'Harriet McKenzie was sixteen when her life changed forever. And it wasn't because of a new hairdo or a surgery. It wasn't because of a death of life. It was a change she never thought possible. Harriet was gay. Now all she had to do was tell her parents that she had found the love of her life and that she was a girl', cool huh?" Willow smiled.  
  
"Yeah, little strange, but yeah" Buffy said.  
  
"What about you, are you going to get something, a nice romance novel, maybe Kama Sutra, you know for you and Spike" Willow smirked.  
  
"Stop that" Buffy smirked back.  
  
"Oh come on Buffy, don't tell me that you two haven't. . ." Willow said.  
  
"Of course we have, but I don't need a book to tell me how to do it" Buffy said.  
  
"Fair enough" Willow said.  
  
"Is that all you're going to get, 'cause I want mochas" Buffy said.  
  
"Uh, yeah, if you want to go, go ahead, I'll catch up in a bit, I just want to look around" Willow said.  
  
"Are you sure?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Yeah, go ahead" Willow said.  
  
"Okay, I'll be at the coffee shop, see ya in a bit" Buffy said and left. Willow put down the book she was holding with the rest of her stuff and went to another bookshelf. She walked along, looking at each title. After about twenty minutes of looking she had found twelve books and checked them all out.  
  
Buffy was sitting at a table in the coffee shop waiting for Willow, but knowing her friend she knew she'd be waiting for awhile. Suddenly she felt hands on her waste and turned around sharply.  
  
"What the f- oh, hey baby" she said, realizing that it was Spike.  
  
"Hey, what's wrong goldilocks, got your panties in a twist" he smirked and kissed her on the cheek.  
  
"No, I'm fine, I just didn't expect you to be here. You know usually non college guys populate the non campus" Buffy said.  
  
"Am I getting the message that you're not happy to see me?" Spike asked.  
  
"No, I'm very happy to see you" Buffy said and kissed him. Just then Willow came up with all of her books.  
  
"Don't let me interrupt" she said, piling the books on the table.  
  
"Geez Wills, got enough readin' material?" Spike asked, breaking the kiss.  
  
"I'm in tune with my inner self" Willow said.  
  
"In tune?" Spike asked.  
  
"Psyche" Buffy informed him.  
  
"Ah" he said.  
  
"Oh, badness, twelve o'clock" Buffy said and Willow looked. "Uh, no, my ten, you're ten." Willow looked over to her left and saw her ex boyfriend Tom making out with some girl. "Will are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah, I just hope she is" Willow said. 


	2. And so it begins

ALL RIGHT. NEXT CHAPTER FOR 'NOT JUST AN EXPERIMENT' PLEASE R/R!  
  
It's kinda cliché don't you think, sun in Sunnydale. It's kind of ironic how it always seems to be sunny there. Spring was a great time for Willow Rosenberg and her friends. They would go out almost every weekend to the Bronze, the hit club in the small town. They had fun, like normal sixteen year olds.  
  
"So Will, tomorrow's Saturday, any rousing adventures this weekend?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Well, not really, I guess I'm just gonna go somewhere" Willow said.  
  
"Oh, really, what are you gonna do?" Buffy asked as they made their way to their lunch table.  
  
"I don't know, stuff" Willow said.  
  
"Hmm" Buffy said.  
  
"What about you? You and Spike gonna get all comfy-cozy this weekend?" Willow asked.  
  
"Maybe" Buffy smirked and she and Willow sat down.  
  
"Maybe what?" Spike asked.  
  
"Nothing" Buffy said and she and Willow giggled.  
  
"So, tonight, national Friday, we celebrating?" another one of their friends, Xander asked.  
  
"Celebrating? Celebrating what?" another friend, Cordelia asked. They had nine people in their group. There was Willow, the shy, but sweet red- head. Then there was Faith, the sexy, sassy, not afraid to fight if she has to brunette. Next was Buffy, the sweet, but tough blonde. Next came Spike, the leather bleached blond bad boy hottie. Then came Xander, the funny cute go to guy. Then there was Anya. The strange, but nice, not afraid to say what's on her mind blonde. Next was Cordelia, the rich and beautiful brunette. Then there was Angel, the broody, sexy, mysterious guy. Last, but not least there was Oz, the sweet, funny quirky red-head. They were all very close and had known each other since the second grade.  
  
"The weekend, no school equals lots of non-educational fun right?" Xander asked.  
  
"Well, I guess we could do something" Buffy said.  
  
"Like what?" Willow asked, taking a sip of her soda.  
  
"Um. . .movies?" Faith asked.  
  
"Yeah, we haven't been to the movies since-" Anya began.  
  
"Last weekend" Angel reminded them.  
  
"Oh, you're right, god we have to come up with new things to do. I mean our lives consist of school, home, the Bronze, the mall and the movies, we need a new hangout" Faith said.  
  
"You're right, but kudos to us for the Bronze, at least we found one cool place right" Buffy offered.  
  
"I guess, but we have to find something new, even if it's right outside of Sunnydale, hell even totally outside of Sunnydale" Willow said.  
  
"Okay, how are we going to do that?" Xander asked.  
  
"I don't know, why do I always have to be the brains of the operation?" Willow asked.  
  
"Because you're the brains of the group" Spike said.  
  
"Uh! Well. . .I. . .you guys have to help too" Willow whined.  
  
"Okay, calm down Will, we'll all figure out something" Buffy assured her friend.  
  
"Okay" Willow said.  
  
After school Buffy and Willow went to Buffy's house to look on the Internet. They were determined to find a good place to hang out at.  
  
"Okay" Buffy said. "I don't even know what I'm looking for."  
  
"Uh. . .clubs?" Willow offered.  
  
"Clubs where, in California?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Type it in and see what comes up" Willow said and Buffy did so. "Okay, here's something, a whole list of them."  
  
"Score" Buffy said. "All right, ooh, this sounds interesting, Machine, okay, it says 'Machine is the hippest club in. . .L.A.' no, we don't want to go all the way to L.A."  
  
"All right, what about this one, Eclipse, it's right outside of Sunnydale, 'If you want music, dancing, food, drinks and fun come to Eclipse. The greatest club California has ever seen. Please be. . .21 or older' god" Willow complained.  
  
"Ooh, here I think I got something" Buffy said. "Climax, 'The club for teens' perfect. It says here, 'Teens and adults welcome, must be 16 or older to enter. Drinks are available for those 21 or older' this one's just outside of Sunnydale also."  
  
"All right, looks like we're going to Climax" Willow said and Buffy printed out the directions. Willow went home to get ready and they met at the park. And they took two cars, Spike's and Xander's. Willow, Cordelia, Angel and Oz, Willow's ex boyfriend rode with Xander and Buffy, Anya and Faith rode with Spike. Willow and Oz had broken up almost seven months ago, but said to remain friends, which they did.  
  
"Okay, so, let's go" Spike said, once they were there and took Buffy's hand and led her into the club. The rest followed.  
  
"This place is. . .uh. . ." Willow said when they got inside. It wasn't at all like they expected. There wasn't any hip music, in fact, there were dance lessons, square dance lessons.  
  
"Oh - my - god" Faith said.  
  
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me" Spike said.  
  
"Hello, I'm Carly Hanson, welcome to Climax" a girl with a southern accent said.  
  
"H-hi" Willow said.  
  
"Well come in, sit, have some fun, would you like to learn to square dance?" she asked.  
  
"Oh, uh. . ." Buffy said.  
  
"Sure!" Willow said in a friendly and peppy tone. All her friends glared at her.  
  
"All right, come this way" she said and walked away. The rest of the gang continued to stare at her.  
  
"What?" Willow asked innocently.  
  
"Square dancing?" Buffy said through gritted teeth.  
  
"Oh come on, it can't be that bed, let's try it" Willow said and grabbed Buffy hand and pulled her away. As Willow pulled Buffy she pulled Spike, and he pulled Faith, and she pulled Xander and he pulled Anya and she pulled Angel and he pulled Cordelia and she pulled Oz and they all went over to the woman.  
  
"All right, you can join this group here, um guys, lets welcome our newcomers" Carly said.  
  
"Hi, I'm Patti, this is Chandler, this is Kayla and Mark, and Tom" Patti said.  
  
"Hi, I'm Willow, and this is Faith, Buffy, her boyfriend Spike, Xander, his girlfriend Anya, Cordelia, her boyfriend Angel, and this is Oz" Willow introduced her friends.  
  
"Well welcome" Tom said.  
  
"Thanks" Willow said nicely.  
  
"Okay, lets group up" Patti said. Buffy and Spike, Xander and Anya, Angel and Cordelia, Faith and Oz, Patti and Chandler and Kayla and Mark teamed up. Willow and Tom didn't have a partner.  
  
"Do you want to partner up?" Tom asked.  
  
"Sure" Willow said.  
  
**********************  
  
They stayed there for another four hours learning how to dance. Afterward they decided to go back to their own club where they felt comfortable and Willow invited Tom along and he accepted. The group's night ended at about one in the morning and they all went home. The next day Buffy, Willow, Cordelia, Faith and Anya met up like they did every Saturday to go to the mall.  
  
"All right, Will, spill time, you like Tom don't you?" Buffy asked.  
  
"I don't know" Willow blushed.  
  
"Oh come on, we're your best friends in the entire world, tell us" Anya said.  
  
"Maybe" Willow said.  
  
"Well he is a cutie" Faith said.  
  
"Yeah, he is, I'm just not sure if I want to go out with him" Willow said.  
  
"Well I think you should, you need someone. Someone to make you happy" Buffy said.  
  
"I'm not sure he's interested in me though" Willow said.  
  
"Will of course he is, why wouldn't he be?" Cordelia asked.  
  
"Oh yeah, 'cause I'm a real frisky vixen" Willow said.  
  
"Will come on, I think he likes you, I mean he did ask to partner up with you last night" Buffy reminded her.  
  
"Yeah, that's because he didn't have a partner" Willow said.  
  
"Give yourself some credit, I mean you went out with Oz, cute, funny, in a band, that's kudos right?" Buffy said.  
  
"Guys, I'm just not gonna get my hopes up on something that I know would never happen okay, now lets drop it, let's shop" Willow said.  
  
Willow went home after the mall to find a car in her driveway that wasn't her parents'. She walked inside and there sitting was Tom. She couldn't believe her eyes. He was in her house.  
  
"Oh, Willow honey there you are, this nice boy has been waiting for you" Willow's mom said.  
  
"Hi Willow" Tom said.  
  
"H-hi Tom, what are you doing here?" she asked, putting down her bags.  
  
"I'll leave you two alone to talk" Mrs. Rosenberg said and went into the kitchen.  
  
"Uh, I came to uh. . .a-ask you if uh. . .um. . .w-would you l-like to uh. . .g-go out with. . .uh. . .g-go out with. . ." he tried to say.  
  
"Are you trying to ask me out?" she asked.  
  
"Uh, yes" he said. "Would you like to go to dinner with me?" he asked.  
  
"I'd love to" she said and he smiled.  
  
"Really?" he asked.  
  
"Sure" she said.  
  
"All right, um, next Friday night at six?" he asked.  
  
"I'll be ready" she smiled.  
  
"Okay, good, I'll pick you up at six" he smiled back. "Um, okay, wow, uh. . .I'll see you next, next week, uh, can I have your phone number?"  
  
"Uh, sure, 555-5879" she said and he wrote it down. "Can I have yours?" she found herself asking.  
  
"Uh, yeah of course, it's 555-7690" he said.  
  
"Okay, Friday at six" she said.  
  
"All right, see you then, bye" he said and left. After the door was closed Willow's mom came back into the living room.  
  
"So, how long have you known him?" she asked.  
  
"Uh, actually I just met him, yesterday" Willow said.  
  
"Oh, well you must have made quite an impression" Mrs. Rosenberg said and went back into the kitchen. Willow ran upstairs to pick out what she was going to wear. it was a week away, but she wanted to look datable.  
  
The next day Willow couldn't wait to tell the girls that she had a date. She had to go through four classes before lunch came. After that all the girls had all the rest of their classes together. As soon as Willow got to the lunch room she searched for her friends, they weren't at the table yet. The only ones there were Xander and Oz.  
  
"Where are the girls?" Willow asked impatiently.  
  
"Uh, not here yet, why?" Xander asked.  
  
"I have news" Willow smiled brightly.  
  
"Ah, do tell" Oz said.  
  
"No, I-I mean I want to wait till the girls get here" Willow said.  
  
"Oh, I see how it is, discrimination" Xander said.  
  
"It's becoming quite a trend" Oz said. A while later the girls came to the table.  
  
"God there you are, I've been waiting!" Willow said hyperactively.  
  
"What's wrong?" Buffy asked.  
  
"I have big news" Willow smiled.  
  
"What is it?" Anya asked.  
  
"I have a date" Willow said.  
  
"That's it? That's the news? By the way you were spazing I thought that you won a million dollars or something" Xander said disappointed.  
  
"Will this is huge, who?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Tom" Willow said.  
  
"Tom? As in club Climax Tom?" Anya asked.  
  
"Cutie Tom?" Faith asked.  
  
"Yeah, when I got home yesterday he was at my house, he asked me out" Willow said.  
  
"That's kind of stalkery if you ask me" Cordelia said.  
  
"I think it's romantic, maybe you two are soul mates" Buffy smiled.  
  
"When are you going out?" Anya asked.  
  
"This Friday night" Willow said.  
  
"Oh, this is great news Wills, I'm happy for you" Cordelia said.  
  
"Yeah me too" Buffy said.  
  
"We all are" Faith said.  
  
"Oh, we have to go shopping" Cordelia said.  
  
"Cordy, you'd go shopping if someone told you that they got their hair cut" Xander joked.  
  
"Well, uh, if you have a new haircut then you have to have outfits to go with it" Cordelia scoffed.  
  
"Okay Will, we'll find you the perfect outfit, something sexy and wild" Buffy said.  
  
"Oh, n-no, I don't do wild, wild and Willow are all un-mixy" Willow said nervously.  
  
"Oh come on, it'll be fine, we promise" Faith said.  
  
That Thursday they had school off because of a teacher's day so Willow, Buffy, Faith, Cordelia and Anya went to the mall to find Willow an outfit for her date the next day. They went from shop to shop looking for just the right outfit.  
  
"I'm getting annoyed" Anya said. "We've been to ten stores, and we haven't found the right thing."  
  
"Don't worry, there is no one I can't dress" Cordelia said as they entered another store.  
  
"All right, I think we're going about this the wrong way. I think that we need to figure out if this is a pants, skirt, Capri or dress date" Buffy said.  
  
"Uh, well, I don't know where we're going, all I know is that we're going to dinner" Willow said.  
  
"Dress" the other four girls said at the same time.  
  
"Okay, let's see if there is a cute dress in here. We don't want dressy dress, just cute" Cordelia said. They searched all over the store and then Anya came up with something.  
  
"Here" Anya said.  
  
"Okay, let me see" Cordelia said. Anya held up the dress. It was spaghetti strapped and it was royal blue with navy blue roses on it. It was cut low and the bottom was frilly.  
  
"Oh, yeah, perfect" Buffy said.  
  
"Absolutely" Cordelia said.  
  
"I don't know, do you think that'll look good on me?" Willow asked.  
  
"Yes, here go try it on" Faith said as she took the dress from Anya and gave it to the red-head. Willow went into the dressing room and tried on the dress and came back out. it looked perfect on her. Just the right length and it wasn't cut too low.  
  
"So. . .?" Willow asked skeptically.  
  
"It looks awesome Will, really" Buffy said.  
  
"Yeah, Tom's gonna lose it" Cordelia said.  
  
"Well if you guys think so. . .I guess I like it" Willow said.  
  
"It looks great" Anya said.  
  
"Okay, I'll get it, what about shoes?" Willow asked.  
  
"We'll find some, a pair of navy or royal blue healed sandals would go great" Cordelia said.  
  
After paying for the dress and getting the shoes the girls were all set and Willow was all set for her date. All she had to do was wait. 


End file.
